


The Voice That Urged Orpheus

by Biromantic_Nerd



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Don't Post To Another Site, Don't copy to another site, F/F, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Happy Ending, Hostage Situations, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Gwen/Morgana (Merlin), One Shot, POV Morgana (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29376162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biromantic_Nerd/pseuds/Biromantic_Nerd
Summary: She does not think about whether or not Uther's archer by now is ready. She cannot or else the stakes become too much to bear. Here Guinevere's safety is already on the line; it is too much if it is her life instead at risk.(Or the one where Morgana saves Gwen; prompt for FebuWhump2021: alt5 - "Hostage situation")
Relationships: Gwen & Morgana (Merlin), Gwen/Morgana (Merlin)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	The Voice That Urged Orpheus

**Author's Note:**

> Alt 5 febuwhump2021 prompt: "hostage situation"
> 
> This is oddly fluffy for a whump fic?

Morgana doesn't enjoy executions. She never has. The gaudy celebration of death is insensitive at best and cruel at worst. She's never understood the bloodlust that executions evoke within some people. Within Uther.

Today she joins Uther on the balcony as he oversees the execution. She doesn't usually do this. But she needs to be here; it's a trade-off. She's asked Uther several times already for permission to travel to Essitir and has been denied. Tonight, after having softened him up by standing at his side during this - especially being that Arthur isn't there to do so, has taken his manservant on some quest outside of Camelot and thus leaves Uther alone for this ceremony - when normally she would not do so, she hopes she shall sway his thoughts on the matter by using this as leverage. It's a give and take. She gives herself now and later on she will take what is owed to her in return.

But even being here, Uther cannot force her to watch. Instead she tracks the citizens below. There near the citadel gate - that's the cobbler and his daughter. Nearer, she spots a knight named Henrik as he hurriedly maneuvers through the spaces left in the crowd; he might be late for duty of some sort, she imagines. 

And there - Morgana's lips curl upward - there is Guinevere as she carries a bucket to fetch water. She's wearing the lilac dress today, and Morgana thinks it suits her. Soft. Pretty. Delicate. Of course, Gwen has proven herself to be more than sturdy; it's just that Morgana can't help but to think fondly of all the times the sweet girl had blushed and smiled ever so kindly at her. Delicate, Morgana thinks, like flower petals ever so lovely, ever so soft; sturdy, she thinks too, like those same flowers surviving through seasons and fauna and humanity's brutishness. 

"Bring forth the condemned!" Uther shouts, forcibly drawing Morgana from her thoughts. 

She glances instinctively as the sorcerer bound in chains is led by a knight towards the pyre. The man is younger than the last sorcerer that had been executed; but he's far older than the one before that. The knight prods him with a sword and then together they slowly meander the long way around the crowd, not being able to tread through its density. All the while, the sorcerer's chains rattle louder than the crowd's ongoing and many conversations below.

However she's not here for the execution. So Morgana again shifts her gaze towards Gwen, who is likewise focused elsewhere than the commotion. Gwen is focused on pumping the water into the bucket. If she truly wished to do so, she could still pump water without looking and therefore watch the execution. The fact that she doesn't - it lines up with the girl Morgana knows.

It's because she's watching Guinevere that she lets out her cry of alarm a moment too late as suddenly the sorcerer breaks free from the knight's sword point and lunges forward to hook the chain of his manacles over the head and onto the delicate neck of a maiden near his path. 

_Gwen_.

"Don't come any closer!" The sorcerer shouts, yanking Gwen towards him without any regard for the way she drops her bucket of water and scrambles desperately to try and pry the chains away from her neck with frantic fingers. 

The crowd roars. No - actually it dims. It is Morgana's heartbeat that roars so loudly in her ears, not the crowd. 

"Fetch an archer," Uther commands with a frown. "Have him shoot on my command.

As the knight hastily obeys, Morgana too frowns. "An archer? But you might hit Guinevere." 

The king does not so much as look at her. He has eyes only for the man in the courtyard. "A servant for a sorcerer - the risk is well worth the reward. I'll get you a new servant if the girl dies." 

That's not the point. "But - "

He doesn't listen to her. "This sorcerer _cannot_ be allowed to get away."

"No," She says darkly and stands. Her agreement makes Uther's head turn to her in time to see her departure. "He can't."

And so she _runs_. 

* * *

She shoves through the thick throng of people. When those she touches catch glimpse of her, the crowd begins to part for her.

She reaches where the sorcerer is in a nervous standstill as the knight of earlier has drawn his sword but is unsure whether or not to attack. The knight sees her and stands down; the sorcerer remains firm. 

She does not think about whether or not Uther's archer by now is ready. She cannot or else the stakes become too much to bear. Here Guinevere's safety is already on the line; it is too much if it is her life instead at risk. She tries to envision the angles upon where an archer would take aim; tries to bodily block them with her own self so as to potentially be a deterrent for Uther to call for the shot to be taken. Her life being risked - now that is a gamble Uther might reconsider. And if not? Well, Morgana is certain that Uther would expend more efforts to heal her than he would Guinevere should she be shot.

Guinevere's eyes catch hers. "Morgana." The name is mere breath upon her lips, scarcely even having taken form. An instinctual response lost in her fear. Gwen stands ever so still in the clutches of the man, the chain around her neck a foreboding intruder where it ought not to have ever touched.

"Release her," Morgana orders. Her voice gives no room for argument. She _shall_ be listened to and heeded. 

The sorcerer recognizes her and grimaces. "I will not." His eyes nervously shift around the courtyard for a second, then up towards Uther's balcony, before locking on to hers. "Not a moment before I'm out of the citadel and halfway towards a different country. Until then, the girl stays with me."

"You really think that I'll allow you to take her?" Morgana asks. Coldness and sympathy mix together in her voice and the man blinks. She pities him, truly, if he is this foolish.

"I think," The sorcerer hardens his expression and takes a step backwards, dragging Gwen with him. "That you have no other choice, Lady Morgana. Not if you want her to live."

Ah but what was the worth of a dead hostage? Nothing. Without Guinevere, the man had nothing. It was a bluff and both she and the man knew it. 

"I understand," She demurely says and lowers her eyes for a moment. The sorcerer takes another step away. 

"Arthur, no!" Morgana cries out suddenly, eyes focused on just behind which the sorcerer stands and where someone easily could sneak up on him in a moment of distraction - should that someone be willing to risk Guinevere's life if anything goes wrong. The sorcerer swivels his head to look in the direction that she had. 

But Arthur isn't there. 

The sorcerer is realizing this too late as Morgana lunges forward with a dagger. 

Guinevere gasps as the sorcerer yanks harshly on her neck as he flinches backwards, chains digging into her skin. 

Too late. 

The blow has landed. The sorcerer stares dumbly at the wound in arm. A wound exacerbated by his elevated arms around Gwen's neck, seeing as she's taller than him.

Almost idly, Morgana poises the dagger once more. This time with no need conceal it priorly. The sorcerer grits his teeth as he realizes his situation. Angrily he yanks against Gwen as revenge. Morgana's eyes narrow. She tries to focus on the opponent before her and not the sound of Guinevere's cry of pain. Tries to focus solely on the retribution she will wreak upon him.

The sorcerer, as Morgana has guessed he might, decides to lift the manacles from Gwen's neck in order to press his conjoined hands to his wound. 

Immediately Gwen darts away. Morgana places herself in between the two of them just as quickly.   
  


If Uther commands an archer to take the shot now, Morgana thinks, then now at last Gwen will be out of harm's way. If the sorcerer makes a move, Morgana is the wall between them - and she will not be breached even for a thousand sieges. 

Behind the shelter of Morgana's back, Guinevere's breaths come in soft heaves as if air is something she has been bereft of. And - even if just for moments - it had. She listens to the soft heaves that sound much too similar to the sound of sobbing. It isn't. But it is still sparks something within Morgana, a rage.

The sorcerer and Morgana eye each other. Neither move. The sorcerer clutching at his wound with hands still linked in manacles. And her poise ever so ready to attack with her dagger.

The crowd regains their voices. It almost drowns out the terrible sound of Guinevere's shuddering breaths.

She could kill him right now. No one would stop her. He was a condemned man anyway.

"Seize him," She commands. She never drops her guard, keeps her dagger raised and ready. 

The knight from before as well as a new one heed her order. 

The sorcerer's eyes glare into hers as he again is made into a condemned man. The knights pull him away, even as he stubbornly does not cooperate and stands still as they forcibly walk him.

Morgana turns. On the balcony, Uther is gripping the banister with agitation so severe that his white knuckles are visible even from down here. 

Before her, Gwen breathes and breathes because she can.

"Come along," Morgana says softly. She places a gentle hand on Gwen's upper arm. And using this grip, she guides Gwen away from the crowd, away from the execution promptly resuming, away from it all. 

"Morgana - " Gwen says and then falters. Even after a moment passes, she does not continue.

"Hush now," Morgana says. "We can talk about it _later_." She offers a smile that Gwen does not see. "When you're feeling a little more up to it. When you're better."

Gwen nods and then stops, a hand rising to hover above the damaged skin on her neck. 

The sight of this makes something in Morgana ache. Makes her blood boil at the same time. She is cold and far too hot all at once. 

But this is not about her. 

So she frowns and lets her concern also show openly through the sound of her voice. "Does it hurt very much?" 

"Not... No, I wouldn't say _very_."

Behind them, a cheer rises from the crowd. Neither Gwen nor Morgana look back. Gwen's eyes steadily ahead. And Morgana's trained on her all the while.

* * *

"This really isn't necessary," Gwen argues yet again from her position of being wrapped in a blanket and propped up by pillows in Morgana's bed as they wait for Gaius. 

These bashful protests - they aren't necessary either but _are_ expected. By her side, Morgana smiles. "Humor me?" 

Gwen moves to shake her head but catches herself in time. "I just don't see why this is needed. I can just go to Gauis. And I have my own bed." 

Taking a seat, Morgana perches on the edge of the bed. Her hand brushes against where Gwen's arm lay under the blanket. 

"I never want anything bad to happen to you," Morgana says. "You know that, don't you?"

Gwen's eyebrows dip. "Of course, I do." 

The earnest and baffled answer allows Morgana to draw her courage. She leans forwards; she uses the hand that isn't touching Guinevere and remedies that, brushing a lock of curls behind Gwen's ears ever so carefully. Gwen's face stays the same - earnest and a little confused - and ever so adorable. 

"For my sake?" The question is coyly asked. Even having finished tucking away the hair, Morgana allows her touch to linger. Allows her fingers to warm the curve of Guinevere's ear and for her palm to cradle Gwen's cheekbone. 

"Honestly, I _am_ fine," Gwen assures her. After a moment, she leans into Morgana's touch, nestles there like she is meant to be adored and held tenderly. And she is, Morgana thinks, meant to be adored and held tenderly. 

Regardless if she is fine, they'll let Gaius be the judge of that. 

Without a word further, Morgana dips and presses her lips to Guinevere's forehead. She stays there a moment. Even with the near tangible feeling of Gwen's eyes upon her. She stays.

She leaves the kiss upon Guinevere and straightens. 

Gwen is looking at her with large brown eyes. Focused but not at all surprised. 

With a smile, Morgana lifts her hand from Gwen's cheek and strokes the strand of curls she's already brushed back. Lets the back of her knuckles brush against her ear.

She wants to kiss the bruises darkening upon her neck until they turn into something that is but a distant memory someday to be forgotten entirely. 

"Morgana," Gwen says ever so softly. 

Morgana shakes her head. "I know I'm worrying. Humor me?" 

The question is in regards to their earlier conversation. Before - well, before.

As she looks up at her, Guinevere searches for something in her face. Finds it, Morgana thinks. "Alright," Gwen agrees. She settles more comfortably into Morgana's bed. She smiles and Morgana's heart wants a painting of this moment - Guinevere's dark hair spilling across her pillow much like her own except it is ever so different because it is not her own and is _Guinevere's_. Of the way Gwen's eyes gentle into something warm and familiar and the way her lips soften into a smile Morgana cherishes and wants to cherish forever. 

**Author's Note:**

> title: "Talk" by Hozier
> 
> My first _posted_ Morgana/Gwen fic even though I have had about three unfinished drafts for them in the past five years. Super excited bc I had not initially planned to write more than one fic for this challenge and so far I have two!


End file.
